SALISBURY - Leading up to Saturday night's Class 1 girls quarterfinal game, Prairie Home had been involved in nothing but close games.
With hard-fought wins over Glasgow and St. Elizabeth in districts, and then a one-point victory over Madison in sectionals, the Panthers entered the matchup with Green City having won their previous three games by a combined nine points.
Being battle-tested proved to be an advantage for Prairie Home.
Nursing a slim lead in the final minutes, the Panthers avoided turnovers, came up big on the defensive end and hit just enough free throws to claim a 61-60 win and head to the Final Four.
"It feels good," Prairie Home coach Dalton Armontrout said. "It hasn't really sunk in yet, but it'll get there. These girls started from the bottom, and then we had a tough district. I think our district really prepared us."
The Panthers, who have just six players on their roster, will be headed to their first-ever Final Four on Thursday. All-conference and all-district seniors Shianne Rhorer and Rachel Distler have led Prairie Home every step of the way, and they did just that against Green City.
Rhorer had a game-high 31 points. She carried the Panthers offensively in the game's first three quarters, spending much of the game doing battle in the post with Green City's star freshman Brook Littrell.
Littrell got off to a fast start and led the Gophers with 23 points, but fouled out of the game with 2:20 left due to Rhorer's tenacity inside. Rhorer also grabbed 12 rebounds to finish with a double-double.
"It's my senior year, and I don't want it to end," Rhorer said. " We watched at least three hours of film on them, and we saw how aggressively they played their man defense, so our goal was to foul them out, and that's exactly what we did."
Three Green City starters fouled out of the game, in large part due to the ball-handling of Distler. After a slow start, Distler was the key player for the Panthers in the fourth quarter. She finished with 14 points, half of which came in the final frame.
With Prairie Home in the double bonus for most of the fourth quarter, Distler was able to cash in at the line and keep the Panthers ahead. She also came up with the key rebound on the final sequence.
When a jump ball gave Green City (20-6) possession under its own basket inside the final 10 seconds, the Gophers took an early shot attempt that came up short. In what was a mad scramble for the ball, Distler came up with the board and charged up the court to dribble out the clock and dribble the Panthers into the Final Four.
"I felt like it was going to be a one-point game from the beginning, but I was confident the whole way through," Distler said. "It was tough, but for some reason I wasn't nervous. I always knew that we could come out on top."
Prairie Home (22-8) also got a huge effort from junior Kristen Peterson, who scored 10 points on the strength of three 3-pointers. After the Gophers forged ahead with two straight buckets around the two-minute mark, Peterson's ensuing three from the wing put the Panthers ahead for the good.
"During warmups, I was kind of feeling hot and hitting shots," Peterson said. "I knew we'd need someone else to step up if Rachel and Shianne couldn't get the ball."
Final Four: What to know
Where: Mizzou Arena, Columbia
When: 5 p.m. Thursday
Who: Walnut Grove (27-4)
With a win: Prairie Home will face winner of South Iron vs. Mercer at 12:50 p.m. Saturday in Class 1 championship
With a loss: Prairie Home will face loser of South Iron vs. Mercer at 12:45 p.m. Friday in Class 1 third-place game